The A's continued lighting up the transaction wire Friday, claiming third baseman Edwin Encarnacion off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays.

Indications are he's a strong candidate to start at third next season, which signals the A's might cut ties with incumbent third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Encarnacion, 27, hit just .244 last season, but his 21 homers (in just 96 major league games) would have led the A's.

Power is the team's biggest need, and it's believed the A's also have strong interest in free agents Lance Berkman and Hideki Matsui. The team as a policy doesn't comment on specific free agents.

Assistant general manager David Forst was asked if he sees Encarnacion competing for the third base job.

"I think we're (three) months away from spring training," Forst said. "We obviously have him and Kooz on the roster right now. We have to make some decisions."

Those decisions must come soon, with Dec. 2 the deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players. Encarnacion made $4.75 million last season; Kouzmanoff $3.1 million. Both are eligible for arbitration, and considering they each hit right-handed, it's unlikely both would be kept.